Results matching “will not replace traditiona”

Following the Iranian election on 12 June, which both sides claim to have won, Iranians and the rest of the world wants to know the truth about the results, as well as wanting to follow protests and other developments. But this has proved more difficult than anticipated given the restrictions on reporting, both by Iranians and foreigners, and the occasion proved to be an opportunity for citizen journalism to show its value.

Reporting restrictions

Mainstream media has been suffering from severe restrictions in Iran, even tougher than during last year's Zimbabwean elections, foreign editor for Channel 4 News Ben de Pear told the Guardian. Foreign journalists first had to get special press cards and were closely monitored, then on the Tuesday following the election, foreign journalists were banned from reporting on the streets. The BBC's correspondent has been asked to leave the country after the broadcaster was accused of supporting rioters. And it is not just foreign reporters who are suffering: now even reporters of Iranian nationality are being confined to their offices. According to Reporters without Borders (RSF), 26 Iranian journalists, editors and bloggers have been imprisoned since June 14.

Citizen video becomes a symbol

In the absence of an abundance of professional reporters, amateurs have stepped up. One of the most watched and discussed videos to come out of the tragedy, and one which is emblamatic of the role of citizen journalism in reporting from Iran, is that of the death of Neda Agha-Soltan, a young Iranian woman who was walking near the scene of clashes between pro-government militias and demonstrators when she was shot. The video has prompted international outcry and the girl's death has since come to represent the tragedy of the conflict, a "symbol of the anti-government movement," according to the New York Times. It was taken, not by a reporter with a camera, but by a bystander on a mobile phone, and posted on Facebook and YouTube after the man sent the 40-second clip to a friend who then forwarded to friends and news sites in Europe and the US.

A Twitter revolution?

Talk of a Twitter revolution swiftly spread as Iranians and others in the country used the social network Twitter to get their news out to the world, and it has been used extensively by the media. Twitter is particularly effective as a method of spreading news as it is harder to censor, given that it can be accessed via various different applications on computers or mobile phones, as well as via the website. #IranElection has been the top trending topic on Twitter for days, with thousands of updates an hour using the hash tag to get included in the feed and direct interested observers to text, image or video content. Following a request from US President Obama, Twitter decided to delay maintenance to the site in light of the important role it was playing in keeping people informed, carrying it out during Tehran's night rather than daylight hours.

Twitter is clearly not immune to censorship, however. The following message has been passed around Facebook over the last few days amongst Anglo-Saxon users:

"FREEDOM OF SPEECH: If anyone is on twitter, set your location to Tehran and your time zone to GMT +3.30. Security forces are hunting for bloggers using location/timezone searches. The more people at this location, the more of a logjam it creates for forces trying to shut Iranians' access to the internet down. Cut & paste & pass it on."

Amateur issues

Clearly, there are problems with relying on information generated by amateurs. Benoit Hervieu of RSF told Editor & Publisher that one of the main problems is that because many people want to remain anonymous, it is harder to verify information. And indeed, it seems that much false information has been circulating. After Twitter was hailed as the voice of the revolution, a backlash quickly emerged asserting its unreliability. There is always the possibility, after all, that interested parties might deliberately try to misinform, or might be so personally involved in the debate that they cannot maintain impartiality. And one of the disadvantages of a campaign such as that mentioned above, encouraging international Twitter users to set their locations to Iran, could end up misleading journalists searching for information on the network.

So how are citizen journalism agencies dealing with these risks and challenges?

Checking for reliability is a top priority for those trying to sell their content to traditional media companies. Citizen journalism agency Demotix has obtained many images from freelancers and amateurs portraying events in Iran, including two pictures which have appeared on the front page of the New York Times. Demotix COO Jonathan Tepper emphasised that Demotix understands the importance of reliability of sources and "believes that serious citizen journalism needs to take all the ethics of traditional reporting and build on them, such as verifiability and protection of sources." All submissions go through a vetting procedure which includes looking at the metadata in photos.

Citizenside, which specializes in citizen photo journalism, has managed to get hold of some good images which have been published by mainstream media outlets, but co-founder Matthieu Stefani said that it has been "really hard" both to establish contacts in Iran and to receive images from these contacts. "The big issue is that most of the contributions we've received were sent through proxies, with most of the time no way to contact our contributors as cellphone networks don't work really well," he explained, and therefore his team is extremely cautious about what they accept. He said that the photos that the agency has been pushing most to its clients were received from known and trusted members in the UK who were sent them by close relatives in Iran.

The Observers, a project run by TV news station France 24 combining citizen journalism with professional editing, has been active in its coverage of Iran. Founder of the initiative Julien Pain told the EW that what makes their coverage particularly useful is the fact that they already had trusted contacts in Iran before the election, and hence they have fewer problems with establishing the reliability of sources of information, particularly when using proxy servers. "We worked with these people before the situation was tense," he explained, "so we know them." He gave the example of a girl who has recorded a video describing how the censorship works, with whom he and his team had already worked. Prior to any major election, Pain added, the Observers tries to enlarge its network of contacts, which in this case proved particularly useful. Even using trusted contacts, Pain said that the Observers still cross-checks information as far as possible.

Amra Tareen, CEO of AllVoices, a project that aggregates professional and amateur news on one site, has a different approach: publish everything and let the reader decide. She said that the site has received more than 1,000 submissions, in English and Farsi, since the election, gathered via proxy servers as the AllVoices site is blocked. She stressed that submissions have tackled both sides of the issue and that this is one of the most crucial aspects of citizen journalism and of her site in particular: that anyone can be heard. "we're neutral and anyone can have their voices heard on our platform--that's key for the credibility of citizen journalism; bias will undermine the concept and keep citizen journalism and citizen journalists from ever being taken as seriously as they ought to be."

Generally it seems that such a situation where media access is severely reduced has provided citizen journalism with a significant opportunity to prove its importance. Tareen commented that "we really want to use this opportunity to show that Cit-J is not only about massive amount of non-qualified content, but also good "pro-am" work that we have been promoting for years now," said Stefani.

Getting pictures on the front page of a major daily is likely to be a huge boost to Demotix in terms of fame and credibility. Tepper was clear that Demotix is trying to supplement mainstream media rather than replace it, but said that "we think our reporting can sometimes be more accurate than the mainstream media" because "most of our users record what is known to them, in their city or country" and therefore "Demotix images provide a more accurate representation of the subject from a local perspective."

For the Observers, the situation has provided an opportunity for collaboration with the TV station on an unprecedented level. Usually, Pain said, he would publish a video on the Observers website and offer it to TV, now he has been working more with programming at France 24 to supply them with videos first before putting them online, to offer a period of exclusivity. "We've really moved a step forward here," he said. "We have learnt how to work together, and it's not going to be the same any more."

Although amateur 'citizen journalists' do not have the knowledge or expertise to analyse developments the way a professional journalist could, they can certainly witness and record events, and when traditional media coverage is limited, this is a valuable service. In terms of providing a true news service, amateur contributions must be verified so that readers can trust them, which is a priority for citizen journalism agencies. As opportunities continue to arise for citizen journalism to prove its value, the mainstream media is likely to incorporate it with increasing frequency and develop new ways of working closer with citizen journalism agencies.

Guardian editor Alan Rusbridger and Labour MP Tom Watson go head-to-head on Twitter, as Watson and the Daily Mail accuse the centre-left paper of going too far. Last week, the newspaper went ahead with a front-page editorial urging the British PM Gordon Brown to resign.

Daily Mail obsessed with idea of Guardian 'putsch' (in collusion with BBC?). A question of media ethics, apparently. http://tiny.cc/7Wp3M"

And so went the tweet that started it all, with Rusbridger linking to the Daily Mail article, in which Stephen Glover asks "Was it [the Guardian] trying to orchestrate events so as to secure the resignation which it had called for in its editorial?"

Given the financial difficulties that the traditional media are facing, it would seem a perfect time for citizen journalism outlets to flourish, as they can try to fill in the gaps left by reporting cuts. And indeed, citizen journalism venture AllVoices seems to be taking advantage of this: launched last year, the site passed the million unique visitors mark in January, not a small feat for a site with only six fulltime members of staff. The Editors Weblog spoke to AllVoices founder Amra Tareen about the reasons for AllVoices' success and her vision for its role in the journalism world.

AllVoices places its contributors' reports alongside aggregated stories from mainstream media: each section is clearly distinguished by colour and title. Any of the sites' thousands of users, once they have created a profile, can upload a report or other content. Stories are categorised according to topic, and given a credibility rating out of five. They can later be added to, commented on or ranked by other users. Tareen was passionate about her project, explaining that the aftermath of 9/11 and the US's decision to go to war in Iraq had persuaded her that the views of the mainstream media were not always enough, and she was inspired to create a global news network that would "provide a 360 degree view" and allow people from all over the world to communicate "around real issues that impact all of us." She made the valid point that an eyewitness account will always be coming from a different view point to one written across the world.

News without editors

AllVoices does not have a member of staff editing the site; it relies purely on its proprietary algorithms and its community. Tareen described this as the "YouTube principle," and emphasised that producing an edited product was not the aim of the site, rather "our goal is to publish what people want to create and to provide multiple points of view." She was confident that the site's users were capable of "making their own decisions as to what they want to believe in." The site is not trying to provide authoritative news, rather to offer different points of view and allow readers to come to their own conclusions about what is actually happening. Staff only check content if it is flagged by another community member.

So rather than an editor choosing articles for the front page of the site, the decision is based on a variety of criteria - credibility, popularity and whether the news is breaking - which are assessed by algorithms. Initially, the algorithms identify a contributor's location based on the computer's IP address or mobile phone network: "we code to city level," Tareen specified. The system also carries out contextual analysis to decide on a topic category for the report, such as business, politics or entertainment. Algorithms then assess a report's credibility based on whether other people both in and outside of the community are reporting on similar issues, on whether other members of the community are adding to it, and on other users' ratings. Contextual analysis can also highlight problems such as copyright violation, for example, and the algorithms will assess whether a story is breaking news. The algorithms and other technology is being constantly refined by AllVoices staff, which includes three engineers, and two professors from Northwestern university who advise.

The algorithms, though extremely useful in establishing reliability, are only 80% accurate, explained Tareen: "You need some human interaction and this is what we are trying to get the community to do, to put the icing on the cake." So users are actively encouraged to rate other contributor's articles, and those pieces which are ranked highly by both the algorithms and the people will be more visible. Stories start off on a city page, chosen based on the geo-coding technology, and then can move up to regional and global pages if they "catch momentum" by receiving many hits and high rankings.  

Citizen journalism melds with social networking

All contributors must create a profile, which also is the basis for the community's social networking feature. There is a personal messaging system for communication between members, where Tareen feels is crucial for forming a community, as is a certain level of engagement in the site: the ability to add comments or further content such as pictures. There is also a recommendation engine, which will show users what mainstream media and other bloggers are saying about the news on which they are writing.  

Cash for the best articles

AllVoices started an 'Excellence in Citizen Media Incentive Program' in August which allows contributors to earn cash when they reach a certain number of readers and a high level of credibility for their articles. Tareen explained that she had been astonished to discover that "there were many freelance writers out there who don't even get paid," and so decided to do something about it. The six month programme is intended to "attract and incentivise great writers." Tareen clarified that a contributor whose articles had been viewed over a million times and had met other criteria could have earned USD 10,000. Users can keep track of their earnings on their profile page. As well as the money, AllVoices helps to promote good content through "social media marketing and search engine optimisation."

As yet, the project is not financially self-sufficient, and Tareen explained that she is working on a proposal for another round of funding. The site was launched with $4.5million of equity funding. The hope is that the site will make enough money from advertising to cover costs and become profitable, and as the site offers "niche communities within communities" there is significant potential for targeted advertising. But until the site reaches seven or eight million unique visitors per month, Tareen clarified, advertising revenue will not be sufficient. For now, the AllVoices team is keeping marketing and other costs as low as possible. "Once we become a really big site then monetising will not be a problem," added Tareen, but until then "we will have to be very creative and make sure that the viral marketing aspects kick in."

An alternative to traditional media?

Tareen vehemently stressed that AllVoices is not aiming to replace mainstream media in any way, rather she sees AllVoices as an alternative voice to complement traditional publications, and a way for anybody who chooses to have a chance to interact with a global audience. "There are some people who want to hear what other members of the public are saying, and there are other people who will always want to go to professionals," she believes. "I don't think one will replace the other, I think we augment."

Citizen journalism can indeed play an important role in supplementing traditional reporting and contributing to a global dialogue on news, if its credibility can be maintained. More and more citizen journalism sites, such as Citizenside, are using proprietary technology to judge the authenticity of user content. While the algorithms' ability to effectively assess reliability is impressive, AllVoices' decision to eliminate the eye of a human editor does mean that the site will always be lacking that professional touch which could lift it from an informative and engaging community to a valuable news source.

Sub-editors may be vanishing but Guardian writer Peter Wilby believes they are essential in the upkeep of newspapers, even though their roles probably will change and diminish.

Many newspapers do not see a need for sub-editors, for example, Archant Suffolk announced last week that they plan on getting advertising designers to lay out pages and reporters to sub each other's copy in place of 20 sub-editor positions. Other papers have centralized subbing into categories that serve several titles, while others have outsourced subbing. Times writers maximize search results with key words instead of a traditional introduction.

The argument for phasing out sub-editors is that if an article's gist is clear, then there is no need for perfect grammar. If an article has factual errors and spelling mistakes, then those reporters should be fired and replaced with those who write with higher standards.

Wilby argues that a brilliant reporter does not equate to a brilliant sub-editor since those two jobs require different skills. "There is something odd about the perpetual demand for multi-skilling in newspapers and other industries," Wilby writes. "The division of labour was once seen as the chief dynamic of economic progress, allowing each of us to perfect a particular set of talents and skills."

But, the primary question is whether or not readers will pay for an unpolished finished product. The popularity of blogs indicate that people read articles that do not go through a sub-editor, but if newspapers want to survive, Wilby states that they must "persuade
people they are premium, high quality products" by maintaining and further yet, improving "their reputations for reliability, clarity, consistency and coherence."

In the future, however, Wilby believes technology will probably perform the more routine subbing functions.

Source: The Guardian

There’s no question that video is one of this year’s biggest priorities for newspapers, whether national or local. In this Q&A, the Editors Weblog interviewed Alexander Houben, editor of volksfreund.tv, an online local TV channel launched by the German local paper Volksfreund. Houben describes video’s costs, its effects on journalists and how the editorial content fits the paper's strategy.

Consultancy Bain & Co. has reported that time spent watching TV will rise much faster than time spent on the Internet through 2012 and that audience for online video may take a very long time to develop.

Should newspapers train journalists in-house or outsource the job? Do they have to send their journalists away for weeks at a time? Is online training the future? Tony Johnston, Head of Training for UK’s national press agency, the Press Association (PA), tells the Weblog of some of the organization’s training programs for papers, with comments from Daily Telegraph deputy editor, Rhidian Wynn-Davies. And as a bonus, you also get some practical tips gathered live from one of the PA’s videojournalism training courses, taught by David Dunkley.

Web-first policies have come under scrutiny for the balance between getting a story published quickly and getting the right, fact-checked, edited story published. Newspapers often struggle through this delicate balance when deciding what goes on-line when. That’s to say nothing of the sometimes not so invisible division between print and on-line departments. Neil Chase, Continuous News Editor at the New York Times, talks to the Editors Weblog about their continuous news-desk and why it’s a model that works not just for the on-line product but benefits the print product and journalists too.

Friday 24^th of November, a good 80 Dutch and Flemish editors and researchers gathered in the European Journalism Centre, Maastricht, Netherlands, to assess and discuss several prototypes of novel newspaper products or services. All are web-based one way or another, and ready for the Web 2.0 publishing environments. The in total six demonstrators feature remote reporting tools, video content based on strategic alliances with non-journalistic partners, e-paper trials and online reader communities. Most were developed in close cooperation with specialised R&D centres. Together, the prototypes reveal the contours of the future electronic newspaper.
Al least half of the demonstrators will make it to real applications, the other are subject to further testing in living lab conditions.
General conclusion of the event: we need further experimentation to capture the essence of digital presence. In the conference report, the applications as well as the editors’ appraisal are described more in detail.

Visual forms organize information and explain complex concepts, whether via maps, charts, diagrams or illustrations.  They simplify the message.  They clarify the news.  Can a comic book timeline do the same?  Can an automated database or three-dimensional illustration?  Innovators in media think so.